Saturday, 22 August 2009

The Garden provides...

Fragrance; Brugmansia

Fruit; Mandarin tree;

Fresh juice;Blood orange juice with Passionfruit;

Bananas;Visual delight; Camellia Polar Bear;

Nectar for birds and insects; Callistemon;

Vegetables; Carrots;

The carrot (Daucus carota subsp. sativus, Etymology: Middle French carotte, from Late Latin carota, from Greek karoton, originally from the Indoeuropean root ker- (horn), due to its horn-like shape) is a root vegetable, usually orange, purple, red, white, or yellow in colour, with a crisp texture when fresh. The edible part of a carrot is a taproot. It is a domesticated form of the wild carrot Daucus carota, native to Europe and southwestern Asia. It has been bred for its greatly enlarged and more palatable, less woody-textured edible taproot, but is still the same species.

Carrots can be eaten in a variety of ways. The simplest way is raw as carrots are perfectly digestible without requiring cooking. Alternatively they may be chopped and boiled, fried or steamed, and cooked in soups andstews, as well as baby and pet foods.

The carrot gets its characteristic and bright orange colour from ß-carotene, which is metabolised into vitamin A in humans when bile salts are present in the intestines.[3] Massive overconsumption of carrots can causecarotenosis, a benign condition in which the skin turns orange. Carrots are also rich in dietary fibre, antioxidants, and minerals.

What a wonderful harvest - especially the mandarins and oranges. You asked about our barbecue - it's one which Lo Jardinièr made with a platform of concrete slabs on which he lights the fire and then puts a grill, resting on bricks, over the charcoal. Not very sophisticated, but it works!

I just found your Blog...beautiful. What attracted me was your name YTT. Just wanted to ask if you are aware that there is a plant by that name? I live in Florida and have several of these beautiful bushes. The reason for the name is that it first blooms white, then lavender and lastly purple, so at any given time there are the three colors on the bush! It blooms here in the spring.

What a perfect post for me to view filled with all this fresh goodness! I squeeze red blood oranges each morning and drink w/ carrot juice...mint tea one of my favorite!Oh how wonderful I feel after seeing such fresh bounty!!This week I'll post more photos of my healing garden!

I love those what the garden can do to us. I grew up with it and we never starved. Thanks to our dear industrious Mother. If she is here with me in Australia, she won't let any space unplanted. Be it flowers or be it vegetables, let alone be it fruits.

The mints, I am not fan of it but now I will. Thanks for the most helpful information.

I grew them once in Orange and they were running wild. I love their scents though. Very relaxing.

Wonderful and interesting post, Titania! Your beautiful garden provides you with so many beautiful and useful things. It is so interesting that you have your own bananas in your garden as well as your own Mandarin tree. Those glasses of mandarin fresh juice made my mouth watering. Those white blossoms on the first photo look like a chandelier; gorgeous flower including a lovely white Camellia! I love carrot (my sons enjoy to eat it fresh). I also love growing mint and a cup of tea of its fragrant leaves. Thanks for sharing your amazing garden with us.

Barbara thank you for your visit. The Swiss summer garden is very productive and bountiful. The subtropical garden is complicated sometimes it is to dry or to wet. Luckily Citrus fruit are easy and Bananas as well to grow!

Ingrid; thank you, yes Lemon verbena I love too it has a lovely taste and is also good for you!

Alice, you could plant a Datura in a pot, they look similar to the Brugs,but you could shelter it in winter time.

easygardener thank you, have you got a heatwave as well?

Hallo sisah thanks for your visit.Herbteas are the best when they come from your own garden.

I will try that, adding those herbs in my Coleslaw, I only use horseradish. Bananas, Hoyas and all other lovely plants, amazing with a garden "over-there". I enjoyed my tour through your garden, until I came to your photo of a spotted snake in June... A Plum tarte is a good idea for using Plums:)

Hi Titania, what a garden of eden your spot is! I love carrots and thanks for all that info. I knew they had lots of good stuff inside that tasty root! Yum to blood oranges too. Very hard to find here. :-)Frances

very enviable photos, and garden of course. it looks mouthwatering and being a garden for all senses indeed.

not so much a fan of mint am i - even less so after a rather horrible involuntary bulimic incident at a restaurant after a mint leaf went done the wrong way a while back, shudder - but carrots are my number one delight in the world of veggies! such versatile yum-yum!